Camera Shots in Film

I chose to comment on a few different angles from the 2013 movie "Oculus" from producers Trevor Macy and Marc D. Evans as I am a fan of Horror films and I was also inspired by my teacher Mrs. Henderson to enjoy a good horror film while completing this project at the same time. I also chose this movie because of it variety of angles in order to invoke equally as many emotions in the audience. Despite the movie being filmed inside I home for the majority of the film, the producers still did a fantastic job implementing different camera angles in order to incite different emotions.

The first shot that caught my attention was this cameo shot which does a fantastic job showing time (one of the main characters) on a fairly neutral background. This helps enhance the emotion of the character in the frame which is what seems to be joy on the character Tim's face as he has just spotted his sister after finally getting discharged from a mental ward. This scene gave me a sense of fear and anticipation because, in my experience, most happy situations in horror movies typically result in death later on in the movie.

The next shot shows a high-angle shot where the second main character, Kaylie, is staring into the Lazarus Mirror, which is the antagonist of this film. This angle give the audience a sense of fear as it is assumed that when a main character is alone in a room with an antagonist there will be an important scene to move the plot along. This angle gives the audience a sense of anticipation as Kaylie is shown approaching the mirror as she goes to investigate a possible disturbance in the office. 

This shot is considered an extreme close-up shot. This is a flashback scene, where the father Kaylie and Tim is shown having a mishap with a staple remover and his finger nail as he is under the trance of the Lazarus Mirror when the two main characters were kids. This scene give the audience a feeling of disgust, as it is implied with the emotions shown in the character's eyes that he is in pain and horrified at the sight before him. His look is all too accurate as the next shot shows the bloody staple remover and his fingernail ripped to shreds.

Another shot I found while watching this film would be the long shot. In this case a shot such as the long shot offers information about the environment and the surroundings of the main characters Kaylie and Tim. In this instance, the audience is given crucial information, such as the setup of Kaylie's "experiment". During this scene the history of the Lazarus Mirror is also explained and how the mirror is suspected to have had a hand in the death of both the mother and father of Kaylie and Tim.

The last shot I found interesting was the medium shot. This shot is useful as it shows both main characters as well as their surroundings. This incites a feeling of curiosity and anticipation in the audience as it is almost always assumed that something bad is about to happen in a horror movie. This also helps the audience establish that the two main characters are in fact related; however, the main characters are clearly not close as they have very few personal or heartfelt moments during this entire interaction.